Shadows Ablaze

Chapter 27- Shyah

The sheets on top of me feel too heavy, as if they're bags of sand. My arms stretch, desperate for the taste of cool silk beneath my fingertips. I can't find it. The relief isn't there. Sweat breaks out on nearly every inch of my body. I throw the covers off, begging for reprieve. I force my eyes shut, telling them to find comfort. To go back to sleep. I toss and turn, but every position I settle into feels like I'm being swallowed by the mattress.

I'm not in control. Of anything.

My life has been laid out perfectly. Usually, I'm happy to have everything decided for me. I don't need to pick because it's already been chosen, but in the early morning hours, that fact feels suffocating. Between the ambiguity of what's happening at the lab and Jaxon asking me to test Axenil pills to see if they're causing seizures, I feel everything unraveling. It's as if I've been placed in a bubble that keeps getting smaller and I can't figure out how to make myself fit comfortably inside the way I once did. Today I have to test the pills and the pressure is strong.

The feeling makes my throat close. I swear there could be a pillow pressed to my face, but as much as I claw at it, I can't get it off. It's going to kill me. I jerk upright, gaging on whatever oxygen I can grab hold of.

My legs are shaking when I manage to roll off the tall bed frame. I barely catch myself before I tumble to the carpeted floor. The ground is warm beneath my clammy feet, but the sensation is welcome. It makes me feel something... different, and I'm not upset about it. I sit, waiting for the chills in my body to calm, going from a fast thrum to a subtle buzz.

My fingers dig into the carpet, feeling it poke at my skin as I push off the ground and stand. The windowpanes are still dark, the sun not willing to peak its face beyond the horizon quite yet. My fingers trace the nightstand beside my bed, shifting to the middle drawer. I yank at the handle, rummaging through the contents blindly. A slick bag glides along my skin. The small pills feel alien in my hand. I shouldn't have something like this sitting idly in my nightstand. My parents would kill me if they ever found out I brought something like Axenil into the house. Especially after what happened the last time they found it in my possession. They would think I was some druggie. Especially with this many. It wouldn't matter what my reasoning was. They wouldn't listen to me.

I slam the drawer shut and finish my morning routine. A purple hue plasters the sky when I leave my house and start for the hospital. As the minutes pass, rays of light slice through the star covered sky, orange claiming the horizon and forcing shades of pink and purple to shove the navy blue into near extinction. It won't be long now. The heat always follows close behind the sun and based on the humidity that's already adhered to my skin, I'd say today's going to be a hot one.

I swipe my key card against the panel outside the D wing and slip inside. Cool air conditioning wraps its arms around me in a much needed hug. It swipes at the muggy sensation that still clings to me, flicking each one away until I forget they were ever there.

The lab is silent as I flick the lights on. I begin setting up my station, organizing the equipment and tools. With no one else here yet, I pull out the bag wedged deep in my pocket. It feels wrong to carry them around like this, as if they're not highly illegal. I could get in so much trouble if someone caught me.

Would they arrest me if they found this many pills on me?

I laugh aloud at the thought. A cop was the one that gave them to me. Even if I got arrested, I wouldn't get in trouble. Not without taking him down with me.

I begin breaking open the pills, placing the liquid contents into their own small capsules. Then, the testing begins. I shuffle each capsule between various tests, looking at the mass and ultraviolet and chemical reactions. After an hour, I come to the conclusion that majority of the contents in the pills are easy to identify, but there's something different in three of them. An element I can't quite identify. It's only half a percent in potency compared to the other ingredients in the pills. From what I can tell, there's no knowledge of the chemical anywhere in the lab. It's almost as if it's... new. Never before seen. At least not here.